Jean Todt

Hope I don't break any rules by this, but check out the whole magazine at http://www.gpweek.com. really is a great read every Monday.


Jean Todt in Portugal. Saying the same thing again, but still words no action.

Speaking in Portugal after watching the first day of the world
championship rally, FIA President Jean Todt declared "I have
been to Jordan and I have now seen this rally in Portugal, but I
am more ambitious for rallying.
“While I have great respect for the organisers, manufacturers
and promoters involved, I have expectations for more to come
out of FIA world championship events.
“The world championship events will continue the way they
are, but we are making changes in the format. I do not like to see
rallies which start at 9 in the morning, have a two-hour lunch halt
and finish at 5. It is simply not the way I see rallying.
“I know (that organising a rally) it is huge work. We are taking all
that into consideration. But what was true 20 years ago is not true
now, and what is true now will not be true in 10 years time. We
have to take that into consideration as well.
“An event in the FIA calendar must have a lot of emotion, be
attractive, present a unique test. To get the emotion and the
flavour in world level rallies, the format has to be different.”
As for the responsibility given to the Global Promoter North
One Sport (ISC), how does he view their promotional work?
“NOS signed an agreement with the FIA as promoter last year
and my intention is to give them my best support, to achieve the
best result.
“For me success is always the result of a team effort. At the
present time the team is made up of FIA people, organisers,
manufacturers, private teams and the promoters. Altogether, we
have to do a better job if we want to have a championship at the
level at which I am aiming for the FIA.
“The FIA has a strong job to bring rallying up to another (higher)
level. Organisers have to contribute; also teams, manufacturers
and promoters. I am optimistic we can establish a strong rally
championship in the future.
“It is obvious we need more manufacturers – two is not enough.
We must encourage new ones, and that is done by having a
higher dimension to the sport. It is the responsibilities of the
various stakeholders in the sport to encourage them to join.”

Mm, interesting, I read that too - but how many current organisers are brave enough to do something different?
I wonder what he has planned? How are NorthOneSport going to be involved?
We've just had 2 very good events, both decided on the final stages - and in the main, both have got very little coverage, other than from the specialist media.

Well, I think a start would be to contact a professional agency, to make a new wrc.com.

The current one looks like a big pile of crap, made by Matthew Wilson's 14-year old brother.

Get some live streaming in there, so we can follow the stages from home.

I still get the feeling that Jean is looking at a WRC /IRC merger, probably 2012, and some variety in format by then, mix of 2 day sprints and longer more endurance based stuff. Probably just my feeling.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MJW

I still get the feeling that Jean is looking at a WRC /IRC merger, probably 2012, and some variety in format by then, mix of 2 day sprints and longer more endurance based stuff. Probably just my feeling.

---

That feeling isn’t only yours MJW...maybe talking about a merger it’s exaggerated, but eventually Todt will wonder if WRC and IRC shouldn’t be complementary series instead of rivals.

And the Monte Carlo route, with night stages and long SS, is surely much more appealing to him than today’s “9 to 5” courses.

Well in the press conference he was asked the question about there being two major championships.... he said that there was only aware of one major championship (ie the WRC).

I really, really hope he was having a giraffe about that, but I fear not :(

J4MIE, are you sure he meant the WRC was the major championship, or are you putting words into his mouth when he actually was only aware of the IRC, the "other" being the Citroën one-make championship with a smaller Ford support championship running alongside.

Of course, if Jean can discover what's made the last two rounds so exciting and then bottle it, we're gonna be in for an awesome treat :)